Catch
The Fänggen (Sing .: Fangga ; Fanggin ), which are also called Fänken , Fenggen and Fanggen , are creatures and legendary figures in southern Germany, Austria and South Tyrol. Depending on the author, time and place, they are described either as giant forest demons , as witch figures or as forest fairies attached to trees.
presentation
The fangs of Johann Nepomuk von Alpenburg are described as a demon figure in his book Mythen und Sagen Tirol , published in 1857 :
- “Huge size, hairy all over the body, bristled, the face contorted, the mouth drawn from one ear to the other, the black hair on the head hangs full of a beard… and extends down rough and scruffy over the back; it rises wildly in anger, like the curls of furies. The eyes are dark and as black as coals, but they also glow at times and spray lightning - the voice is a man's voice, rough and clumsy. Her clothes are aprons from wild cat fur , jackets from tree bark and shaggy aprons from foxes and other animals. "
Apparently there are both male and female catches, the latter being more common in Tyrolean sagas. The male ones, on the other hand, are more common in the sagas from Vorarlberg . It is said that they have secret knowledge, such as that about the secret powers of plants, which can be extracted from them once you have made them drunk. Most should also have proper names, such as Rauhrinda and Stutzförcha .
In legends they are often downgraded to frighten children or portrayed as stupid. The first motif can be found in a Tyrolean legend:
- “In the forest that stretches from Nassereit to Stra, there lived a Fangg who was the size of a mediocre tree. She was always in wait for people, and when she caught little boys she sniffed them into her nostrils, like Dople Pug or Saint Omer, or rubbed them on old, dry trees that stare from stinging branches until they were rasped to dust . "
They should appear solitary as well as in groups, as in the legends described above, but are always tied to a certain forest with their life. If that forest were to disappear, for example through deforestation, they would also disappear. Another feature of the Fänggen, which was certainly only added in the course of Christianization, is that, like other pagan figures, they can be driven away by ringing a church bell.
In addition to the gigantic catches, there are also small, dwarfish catches in some legends and stories. These tiny creatures are said to dwell in clefts in the rocks and mounds of earth called catch holes . They are often equated with the dwarfs , gnomes and the like, but despite their small body size, they are said to have enormous powers. It is also said that they tame chamois and wolves , drink their milk and even use them as mounts.
See also
literature
- Johann Nepomuk Ritter von Alpenburg: Myths and Legends of Tyrol , with an introductory foreword by Ludwig Bechstein . Unchanged reprint of the Zurich, Meyer u. Zeller, 1857, Niederwalluf near Wiesbaden 1971, pages 51-53, ISBN 3-500-23730-4
- Leander Petzoldt : Small lexicon of demons and elementals . 3. Edition. Munich 2003, pp. 68-69, ISBN 3-406-49451-X
swell
- ↑ http://www.hexenlexikon.de/cgi-bin/f.pl?eintrag=7
- ↑ http://www.sagen.at/texte/maerchen/maerchen_oesterreich/tirol/zingerle_sdl/fanggen.html
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Johann Nepomuk Ritter von Alpenburg: Myths and Legends of Tyrol , with an introductory foreword by Ludwig Bechstein, Unchanged reprint of the Zurich edition, Meyer u. Zeller, 1857, Niederwalluf near Wiesbaden 1971, pages 51-53; here page 51
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
